Council resolution: Tunnel lawsuit is OK by us

The City Council says City Attorney Pete Holmes can do what he did about the tunnel.

Holmes

By a unanimous vote, Councilmembers on Tuesday approved a resolution retroactively blesses a lawsuit Holmes filed that seeks block a second initiative concerning the tunnel replacement for the Alaskan Way Viaduct. The Council’s lone tunnel opponent, Mike O’Brien, was not at Tuesday’s meeting.

Earlier this month a King County Superior Court Judge said Holmes didn’t have authority to try to stop an August referendum on City-state tunnel agreements signed in February. City Council President Richard Conlin said Holmes asked the Council to approve the Tuesday resolution, which states Holmes has the Council’s permission to ”commence and continue” his legal battle against another tunnel initiative, which seeks a future public vote on whether city streets can be used during tunnel construction.

“Because of the ruling that was made by the last judge…that he did not have the authoirty, the city attorney felt it would be best to have this resolution as a fallback,” Conlin said.

Kathy George, an attorney representing the initiative’s sponsor, Elizabeth Campbell, urged the Council not to pass the resolution.

“This is about the right of all people to vote,” she said, adding that the resolution was an acknowledgement by the Council that Holmes was out of line when he sued to stop Campbell. George said the Council should note that Holmes was rebuked by the judge in the other tunnel-related lawsuit he initiated.

“You should respond by saying, ‘Let’s stop listening to our lawyer,’ George said.

Conlin noted that Holmes disagreed with the judge’s decision and said “a Superior Court ruling is not a legal precedent.”

Tuesday’s tunnel initiative resolution is largely symbolic, as government resolutions are not binding nor are they pieces of actual legislation. A judge on Friday will hear arguments about whether Campbell’s effort should proceed.

The state has already signed a $1.4 billion contract with Seattle Tunnel Partners, a joint-venture selected to build the 1.7 mile-long, double-decker tunnel beneath downtown. The agency expects to release a final Environmental Impact Statement on the project in July. Tunnel construction wouldn’t start until later this year and wouldn’t finish until late 2015 at the earliest.